Finally!

Right, here's the deal:

I finally have a decent internet connection. I'm still trying to iron out a few issues with the router and the modem, but it seems to be fairly stable and operating at a nice speed.

I also have a shiny new Alienware computer, for all my gaming needs, and soon to be my music workstation as well. So, I'm going to make all the transitions from my laptop to my new desktop.

Once that's all done, I'll finish off the songs I've been working on over the past few months and upload them to the YouTube channel. Plus now I'll probably get some time to work on the tutorials blog.

So hopefully, things are looking up.

Short Update

Just a small update to let you know I'm still alive.

I'm still struggling for an internet connection, and I have no time at work to do anything on Akuma, so updates are going to be a little slow still. Hopefully, after this weekend, I'll have a dedicated high-speed connection at home.

The new website is in development and will be completed shortly. It will be uploaded when I finally get my internet connection, along with a few new tracks and some articles for the tutorials blog.

All in all, I haven't given up, I'm not dead and I haven't yet been admitted to a psychiatric hospital.

New Website

I am currently designing the new website to promote my music a little better. Once up akumamusic.com will link to the new site. You'll still be able to reach this blog by the old link of:

akumamusic.blogspot.com

Tutorials

Keep your eyes posted over to AkumaTutorials for week by week guides, hints and tips on production and synthesis.

In the near future I'll be going over creating solid D&B beats using the wonders of FL Studio's FPC plugin, and the simple but effective mixing techniques you can use to get the most out of your drum samples.

I'll also be going over creating some nice DnB bass sounds using the Rob Papen "Blue" synthesizer, as well as some leads and pads.

I'll also be talking about the various ways you can automate in FL to get more out of your mixes.

See you soon!

Sorry!

Okay, so for the non-existent people who allegedly read this blog, I would like to apologise for my lack of visibility over the past couple of months. I promise you, there's actually a good reason this time.

I have moved from Manchester in the UK to Perth in Western Australia. Yeah baby, I'm on the other side of the freakin' world. Aussie winter is warmer than UK summer, the nightclubs are pretty good and I can still get a pint of Guinness if I really wish.

Back onto the music, Chaotica. Yeah. Erm. With the move and everything, it never really got the loving care and attention that it so very much needed, and with that kind of got scrapped. To be honest, I'd got really tired of rearranging and remixing all the tracks. I could never get them to sound how I wanted, and I don't think I ever will. So on that note, no, Chaotica will never be "released". If you want a copy, just throw me an email, but I can't promise a quality listening experience.

There is a silver lining to all this though, there is new material on the horizon. In fact, since I've been here I've created about 50 (nearly) useless patches for my synthesizers and actually completed two tracks. Yes: completed (until I listen to them in two months time, decide they're crap, re-mix them, re-release them, realise once again they're still crap, and start something afresh).

I see a dangerous and a destructive cycle within my creative process, but the problem probably lies with that the only feedback I am receiving on my music comes from myself. You can never really trust yourself to fully and honestly criticize your own work in the proper way. You spend the first few days with the creation still high on the ecstasy of creating it, therefore altering your perception to be more accepting of it's flaws. Then that high wears off and you become over critical, and decide its crap; but other people could listen to it and think it was actually good.

Without that public feedback I'm never going to grow at this. I'm never going to truly understand my creative flaws and only try to perceive the flaws with my creations, therefore desperately trying to correct the symptoms without ever addressing the cause. And here we are back to destructive cycles again.

I'm not sure whether it's a naivety thing, the fear of embarrassment or just a simple case of temporary loss of confidence and self esteem from not being in work for the past two months, but I just can't bring myself to submit to any labels. Have I been producing long enough? Is it of a good enough quality? Is my music appealing to other people enough? In what circumstance would my music be distributed? As a commercial track, a club track, a tag on the end of the label's yearly compilation CD? I haven't a clue. I know I won't find the answers until I ask the questions, and that means actually start submitting my material to labels, but I'm still not sure I should do.

And now I've written this I could never include the website with the release. Hell, they'd probably Google me, just to see if I had any popularity or following. They'd find this article and probably think I was a problematic nutcase with mild schizophrenia. But then again, I suppose a lot of successful artists have a few similar personality traits.

I don't know.

I have limited internet access at the moment, so the new tracks will appear for preview either on the soundcloud or the YouTube account whenever. Could be tomorrow, could be next month. I seriously haven't got a clue what's really happening at the moment.

"Chaotica" - Full Album Coming June

Time Again

I know it's been a month since my last post, but that doesn't mean I've abandoned this blog or Akuma music. In fact, it's quite the opposite really. I've been working on several things at the moment, all with the intention of producing more quality Drum & Bass tracks.

So what's been happening? Well, lets see...

Chaotica EP

Work has been increasingly intrusive on my social life and free time lately, working night shifts and weekends. This has led to a bit of neglect on promoting Chaotica, which in hindsight might not be such a bad thing.

The full EP is going through a re-master, with some tracks going through some more structural tweaks. After spending some time sitting down to listen to the EP after it's production and after leaving it alone for some time, I've noticed improvements that desperately need to be made.

For example, "Chaotica" and "Don't Scream" are going through an arrangement change at the moment. I'm going to try and shorten the two tracks a little bit and add some punch and dynamics to the drops in each song. "Chaotica" definitely needed some mixing, a little remastering and some sampling changes to the drums. "Don't Scream" was an issue of arrangement mainly, but still needs some serious mastering.

"Bright Lights" is going through a remastering process, and I'm looking to really beef up the bass a little more. Maybe some layering, and possible a couple of sample changes in the drum kit.

"The March" needs some tweaking. Again a little mastering and some synth pattern changes. The bass drum has also be swapped out for something a lot more "punchy".

"The March (Angels Remix)" is being left alone for the time being. That was a joint project featuring my brother's input, so I kind of want to leave that one alone.

Once everything is completed and finalised, I'll look at seriously promoting the EP as best I can. It may look like a busy night tonight followed by me trawling around Manchester city centre with some CDs in a ruck-sac.

New Stuff

There's some good new tracks going to be released after a while, probably appearing on the next EP after I've finished promoting Chaotica. Some new PrimeLoops.com sample packs have helped me with really creating some interesting new drum patterns and sounds creating a little more of a Junglist vibes to these new songs.

Currently, one has a solid title of "Deadzone". The other's project files are simply named "1" or "Drum n Bass Skin". In fact, there's four versions of "Drum n Bass Skin", all built from the first, and all extremely different.

I'm using a lot of classic bass synthesis techniques with this new stuff, adding some heavy distortion/overdrive and other effects to create some interesting wobble and reese bass synths.

For this new stuff I'm concentrating heavily on purely creating my own sounds, rather sculpting sounds from presets included within the many synth VST's that I have. So, after experimenting with bass and getting that to a gold standard, there'll be some more pads and stabs being generated and added in.

So, it looks like this new stuff is going to take a little longer to produce, but it's a hell of a lot more fun to write!

Anyway. That's it from me.

I'll let you know when the Chaotica EP (Final) is out. Bye!